How to Prepare for Your First NaNoWriMo (Beginner’s Guide)

The stresses of the daunting task quickly ceased as my excitement for the upcoming project grew—my first NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words. 30 days. Never in my life have I written anywhere close to 50,000 words in a month, but here we are. I’m preparing for my first NaNoWriMo, and if you have found yourself with the same goal, here’s everything I’m doing to prepare.

November’s still a little while off, so now is the absolute best time to start preparing.

The focus of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a lot of writing > great writing. So, in the 30 days of November, the goal is to write 50,000 words! With so many words to write in such a short time, preparation is the key. In this post, I’ll share what I’ve found to be the most essential steps to prepare for your first NaNoWriMo.

What is NaNoWriMo?

When I first joined the writing community, I heard of this ‘NaNoWriMo’ and I had no idea what it was. And, when I found out that it involves writing 50,000 words, I didn’t think I’d ever commit to it. But, when you break it down, 50,000 words in 30 days means you need to write roughly 1,667 words a day. Of course, some days may be more, others may be less. However, 1,667 words is an attainable goal for many people.

It wasn’t until I had a new idea for a novel that I actually decided to commit to NaNoWriMo, and I’m so excited!

My Essential Steps To Prepare for NaNoWriMo

Set Clear Writing Goals

To write so much in such a short period, you need to have a plan; otherwise, you may find yourself on November 29th scrambling to write some 40,000 words because you didn’t realize the month was already over!

50,000 words is the goal—yes, but what about the other big picture goals? Try asking yourself questions to prepare, like:

• Do I want to make progress on a novel or gain practice in writing new formats and styles?
• What do I hope to gain from this challenge?

These goals also include smaller daily and weekly tasks to keep consistent progress. The recommended daily word goal is 1,667. I think that’s a great goal because while some days may be challenging to hit that, and some you may not write at all, there will hopefully be days where you hit your flow and write 5,000+ words.

Know What You’ll Write

For me, preparation is key. If you sit down to write and you don’t know what you’re even going to write, it’ll be quite difficult and time-consuming to reach your word goal. Plan enough to work on for the whole month—whether it be working on a novel, a set number of short stories, or completing prompts.

Even if you’re someone who likes to write without a plan, I recommend having some notes about major plot points. The more time you spend just thinking about what to write, the more time it’ll take to reach that daily word goal.

I’ve been planning as much of my upcoming novel as I can, so when November comes around, I’m ready to make a lot of progress on the first draft.

Work on Building a Consistent Writing Routine Now

The easier we make it for ourselves to want to write, to feel proud of what we write, and to write consistently, the easier it will be to follow through with this challenge. Try to use October to experiment with different writing times and routines and find what works best for you (What works for you may change day to day, so pick a few options.)

If you’d like some ideas, I have some posts.

Gather Your Resources & Find Your Community

Jumping into your first NaNoWriMo blind is not ideal. The more you prepare—the more resources you gather—the easier it will be. This, along with finding a community you can turn to for advice and motivation, will set you up for success.

Some Resources to Consider:

• NaNoWriMo Website | where you can find information, forums, and official challenges
• My New Notion Writing Hub | a place to stay organized in many aspects of writing, including plotting, character notes, word counts, and more
• r/nanowrimo | full of like-minded writers sharing tips, memes, and encouragement

How I am Preparing for My First NaNoWriMo

Many of my nights lately have been spent planning characters, world history, plot points, and locations for the novel I will be working on during NaNoWriMo. I have been having such a lovely time jumping into this new world and seeing it slowly become more whole.

I’ve been organizing everything using my Notion Writer’s Hub and Novel Planning templates. So far, they’ve been working wonderfully to help me stay on top of my writing preparation!

Even though I’ve been enjoying planning this story, I am nervous about the daunting task of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. I’ve never written anywhere close to that in such a short time, so it’s a little intimidating! But the more I see other writers planning and preparing and sharing their own struggles, it makes it easier to push forward, knowing many other writers understand.

If you’d like more behind-the-scenes of me preparing for this upcoming NaNoWriMo, I highly recommend checking out my YouTube channel, where I’ve been documenting my progress.

Rest Assured First Timers! We’ve got this!

NaNoWriMo is about quantity over quality, creativity over perfection, and challenging your writing muscles. It’s like preparing for a marathon: if you don’t prepare: don’t stretch your muscles, just ate a huge breakfast at a diner, and start running, you probably won’t make it far. And, even if you do, it’ll be way more challenging than it needed to be.

Take the time now to set goals, know what you’re going to write, build a consistent routine, and find a community you can share your struggles with. I wish you the best of luck this November!

Even though I’ve been enjoying planning this story, I am nervous about the daunting task of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

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